The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-04-25
TRIALS OF THE COUNTER.
TALMAGE BREACHES TO THE
CLERKS IN THE STORES.


Clerking Should be but School to
Prepare for Proprietorship - Obe-
dience to Rules Urged - Showing
Wholesale Purchasers the Oity by
Gaslight.
BROOKLYN, April 24-At the Tabernacle
this morning the pastor, Rev. r. Dewitt
Talmage, DID, read from the Book of
Proverbs some lessons about honest thrift
He then gave out the hymn beginning
1.-THE strife will not be long
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victorS song"
The boy choir chanted an opening and clos
ing selection. Dr. Talmage's discourse was
entitled Behind the Counter; or, Trials and
Encomagements of Statesmen and Sales
women" He took the two following pas
sages as his text: "And certain woman
named Lydia, seller of purple, of the city
of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard
US; whose heart the Lord opened" Acts
xvi, ii. "Seest thou man diligent in his
business! he shall stand before kings"
Proverbs xxi, 90. The preacher said:
The first passage introduces to you lydia,
Christian merchantess. Her business is to
giggling nonentity, but practical woman,
not ashamed to work for her living. All
the other women of Philippi and Thyatira
have been forgotten, but God has made i'm
mortal in our text, Lydia, the Christian
saleswoman.
| The other text shows you q man with
head, and hand, and heart, and foot all busy
| toiling on up until he gains princely success.
'Seest thou man diligent in his business! !
ln 1leA, I,f,
! agement i'll these two passages for men and
women who will be busy, but no solace for
those who are waiting for good luck to show
| them at the foot of the rainbow, a casket
of buried gold. 1t is folly for nybody in
this world to wait for something to turn up.
| 1t will turn down. The law Of thrift is as
| inexOrable as the law OF the tides. Fortune,
| the magician, may wave her arm in that
| direction until castles and palaces come; but
she will, after awhile, inveIt the same
wand, and all the splendOrs viii van
| ish into thin air. There are Ger
tain styles of behavior which lead to useful
ness, honor and permanent success, and
| there are certain styles of behavior which
lead to dust, dishonor and moral default.
would like to fire the ambition of young peo-
| pie. | have no sympathy with those who
would prepare young folks for life by whit
ting down their expectations. That man or
wOman Will be worth nothing to church or
| State who begins life cOwed down. The
| business of Christianity is not to Quench but
to direct human ambition. Therefore, it is
| that | come out this morning ard utter
words of encouragement to those who are
occupied as clerks in the stores, and shops,
and banking houses of the country You
say: ''Why select one class, and talk to one
specially this mOrning! For the same
reason that a surgeon does not open the door
of a hospital and throw in a bushel
of prescriptions, saying: Come, now,
and get your incidence He first feels
the pulse, watches the symptoms, and then
prescribes for that particular case So to-
day must be specific. The people in this
audience who are clerks are not an excep-
tional class. They belong to great com
| pany of tens of thousands who are in this
country, amid circumstances which will
either make or break them for time and for
eternity. | should every slow to acknowl-
edge that the clerks, male and female, of
| other cities are any more honest or faithful
! than the clerks of our own city. Many of
these people have already achieved a Chris
tian manliness and Christian womanliness
| which will be their passport to any position
| have seen their trials. | have watched
their peIplexit;es There are evils abroad
which need to be hunted down, and dragged
out into the monday light.
In the first place | counsel clerks to re-
| =
ship is only a school from which they are to
be graduated. 1t takes about eight years to
get one of the learned professions. 1t takes
about eight years to get to be a merchant.
| Some of YOU will be clerks all your lives,
but the vast majority of you are only in a
transient position. After while, some De
cember day, the head men Of the fro will
call you into the back Office and they will
say to you: NOW, you have done well by
MS; we are going TO do well by you. We
| invite you to have an interest in our con-
Germ" You will bow to that edict very
gracefully. Getting into street car to go
home an old conrade will meet
you and say: "What makes you
look so happy tonight" co." you will
| say, nothing nothing" But in q few
DAYS your name will Blossom on the sign
Either in the store or bank where you are
now or in some other store or bank, you
will take a higher position than that which
| you now occupy. So feel to-day that / am
i standing before people who viii yet have
their hand on the helm OF the worlds com
Iuerce, and you will turn it this way or
that; now clerks, but to be bankers, import
crs, insurance company directors, shippers,
contractors, supcrintendents of roailrads-
your voice mighty ''on 'Cnangen-stand-
ing foremost in the great financial
and religious enterprises Of the day. For,
though we who are in the professions may,
| on the platform, plead Tor the philanthrO-
pies, after all the merchants must come forth
with their millions to sustain the movement
BE, therefore, patient and diLgent in this
transient position. You are now where YOU
can learn things you can never learn in any
other place. What you consider your dis
advantages are your grand opportunity
You see an affiucnt father some day come
| down on u prominent street with his SON.
who has iusi graduated from the university,
and establishing him in business putting
one hundred thousand dollars Of capital in
the store. Well, you are cnyiOus. You say:
80, If ] only had a chance Ike that young
man--if only had u father TO put one hun
dred thousand dollars in business for me,
then / would have some chance ia the
world" BE not cnvious. You have ndvan-
tages over that young man which he
has not over YOU As well might / come
down 10 the docks when vessel Is about 10
sail for Valparaiso, and say. LET me pilot
this ship out Of the Narr0ws." Why,
should sink crew aud cargo before ! got out
OF the harbor, simply because ! know moth
ing about plotnge. Wealthy sea captains
put their Sons before the mast for the reason
that they know that II ~ The only place
where they can learn b. be- succosfnl sailors.
u IL only under drill that pooplo get 10 un.
deistand pllv,age aud navigation, aud !
want you tO uudCntand that n takes no
| more skill b. conduct a vessel ont ~ the
hufbOr ana acgoas tho sa. than ~ aref
| commercial rsifluiislumeul clear ~ fin TocKs